Afternoon Show → Opinion: Manning trial is about ‘the public’s right to know what their government is up to’
Jun 3, 2013 14:56 |
WASHINGTON — The Bradley Manning trial began Monday at Fort Meade, MD. In February, Manning pleaded guilty to lesser charges that could result in 20 years behind bars, but prosecutors are hoping for an “aiding the enemy” charge that could result in life behind bars.
Voice of Russia’s Rob Sachs talks with Jay Leiderman, a lawyer based in California who often represents those in the internet hacking community
Please visit the Bradley Manning Support Network to learn more about the case.
“If you had free reign over classified networks… and you saw incredible things, awful things… things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC… what would you do?”
“God knows what happens now. Hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms… I want people to see the truth… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”
-Quotes from an online chat attributed to Bradley Manning
Nobel Peace Prize nominee PFC Bradley Manning, a 25-year-old Army intelligence analyst, who released the Collateral Murder video, that shows the killing of unarmed civilians and two Reuters journalists, by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. Manning also shared documents known as the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and series of embarrassing US diplomatic cables. These documents were published by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, and they have illuminated such issues as the true number and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq, along with a number of human rights abuses by U.S.-funded contractors and foreign militaries, and the role that spying and bribes play in international diplomacy. Given the war crimes exposed by these documents, PFC Bradley Manning should be given a medal of honor.
Read more about Bradley Manning here.
Tom Waits, “Fish in the Jailhouse”
While the term “fish” in prison usually means a first-timer that’s in for a rude awakening, in the case of Waits’ track, the fish refers to actual fish. “Fish in the Jailhouse” briefly introduces us to Peoria Johnson, who tells his cellmate he can break out of any prison with a “skeleton fish key,” which he’ll get at supper because the jailhouse cafeteria is serving fish that night. The idea for the song reportedly came to Waits’ wife and co-writer Kathleen Brennan in a dream.
San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
https://www.indybay.org/
Alternet | Alternative News and Information
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Reason.com
https://reason.com/
Sublime, “Jailhouse”
For their major label debut, Sublime covered this early Bob Marley & The Wailers single, combining Marley’s verses with their own take on Tenor Saw’s “Roll Call.” The result is one of the best tracks on Sublime, a tale about the never-ending struggle between the law and teenage angst.
Norml
http://www.norml.org/
Americans for Safe Access: Medical Marijuana
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/
Suicidal Tendencies, “Institutionalized”
This 1983 track from Mike Muir’s long-running Los Angeles punk band tells the story of a different kind of confinement: A mental health facility. Much like prison changes a man, our protagonist fears the treatment at the institution — with its medications and lobotomies — will transform him from a dude with suicidal tendencies into a zombie of his former self. And all he wanted was a Pepsi.
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies: MAPS
http://www.maps.org/
Check out 5 Things You Should Know Before You Buy After that,
you can come again to this page with a lot more drone buying data.
Snoop Dogg, “Murder Was The Case”
The “November Rain” of gangsta rap, this hip-hop epic follows Snoop’s character from the streets of the LBC to the California Institute for Men in Chino. Along the way there are drive-bys, death and resurrection, deals with the Devil, weed smoke, Bible verses and ultimately, a ride on the “gray goose” to prison, where Snoop finds himself in the middle of an all-out shank war. This Dr. Dre-produced song was accompanied in 1994 by an equally epic 18-minute short film.
Clemency Project 2014
https://www.clemencyproject2014.org/
Southern Poverty Law Center
https://www.splcenter.org/
Clemency Project 2014
https://www.clemencyproject2014.org/
Copwatch
http://www.copwatch.org/
Throughout his catalog, Haggard often sounds regretful as he recounts misdeeds. But that’s not the case on 1971’s “Huntsville,” which has a churchy-sounding organ and the overall feel of a Seventies’ vintage cop-movie soundtrack. Bound in leg irons and on his way to the big house, a defiantly unrepentant Haggard grouses about how “that old white-haired judge from Dallas” didn’t buy his made-up alibi. And he grouses about the hard labor that awaits (“My hands don’t fit no choppin’ hoe/And cotton never was my bag”), already daydreaming about escaping to Mexico. It sounds like the internal monologue of a bad guy busted by Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry.”
TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime
http://www.talkleft.com/
ACLU: Prisoners’ Rights – American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/issues/prisoners-rights
Lawyer, Attorney, Law Firms, Attorneys, Legal Information. Lawyers.com
http://www.lawyers.com/
“Back On The Chain Gang” performed by The Pretenders
While the lyrics to “Back On The Chain Gang” aren’t explicitly about prison, the background chant in the refrain, directly referencing Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang,” and lines describing separation of two friends or lovers by “the powers that be,” speak to a poetic “prison” from which there may be no escape. This song was written as an elegy for The Pretenders’ founding guitarist James Honeyman-Scott who died of an overdose early in their career. Perhaps referring to the troubled Honeyman-Scott, lead singer and songwriter Chrissie Hynde vows that those powers will “fall to ruin one day / for making us part.”
Links | Prison Legal News
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American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section
The American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section works on solutions to issues involving crime, criminal law, and the administration of criminal and juvenile justice. Serves as a comprehensive resource for individuals interested in the criminal justice system.
URL: http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/
\Unlike some of his other jail songs, this track from the I’m a Lonesome Fugitive album isn’t autobiographical. Instead, Haggard tells the story of a man who killed his wife while “insane with rage,” only the jury convicts him of premeditated, first-degree murder. As punishment, they spare him the chair and leave him to live with his guilt: “I prayed they sentence me to die/But they wanted me to live and I know why/So I do life in prison for the wrongs I’ve done.” A year later, the Byrds, led by Gram Parsons, would cover the song for their Sweetheart of the Rodeo LP.
Southern Poverty Law Center
https://www.splcenter.org/
Clemency Project 2014
https://www.clemencyproject2014.org/
Copwatch
http://www.copwatch.org/
She’s got everything delightful
She’s got everything I need
Takes the wheel when I’m seeing double
Pays my ticket when I speed
InmateAID: Find Inmate Information-Inmate Lookup
https://www.inmateaid.com/
On the freeway in the county the sun don’t shine
I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel a Bati man
And outside my cell deputies creep
And in this cell all I do is sleep and I dream
That I’m free
And I’m back on the reef
Where I throw my net out into the sea
All the fine hinas come swimming to me
They hold me and they promise me things
And when the tides high I cry like a little baby
Don’t give me no right kind a love no Sunday morning
Don’t want no puppy loving
4 Elements of Successful Reentry Programs for Inmates
http://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/4-elements-of-successful-reentry-programs-for-inmates/
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences – ACJS
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) is the international organization that helps foster professional scholarly behavior and activities in the criminal justice profession.
URL: http://www.acjs.org/
Keep this going please, great job!
Let me tell you about a girl I know
Had a drink about a hour ago
Sitting in a corner by herself, in a bar in downtown hell
She heard a noise and she looked through the door
And saw a man she’d never seen before
Light skin, light blue eyes, a double-chin and a plastic smile
Well, her heart raced as he walked in the door
And took an empty seat next to her at the bar
“My brand new car is parked right outside
How’d ya like to go for a ride?”
And she said “Wait a minute I have to think”
He said, “That’s fine. May I please buy you a drink”
One drink turned into three or four and they left and got into his car
And they drove away someplace real far
Now babe the time has come
How’d ya like to have a little fun?
And she said “if we could only please be on our way, I will not run”
That’s when things got out of control
She didn’t want to, he had his way
She said, “let’s go”
He said, “no way!”
Come on babe it’s your lucky day
Shut your mouth, we’re gonna do it my way
Come on baby don’t be afraid
If it wasn’t for date rape I’d never get laid
He finished up and he started the car
He turned around and drove back to the bar
He said “now baby don’t be sad, in my opinion you weren’t half-bad”
She picked up a rock, threw it at the car, hit him in the head, now he’s got a big scar
Come on party people won’t you listen to me
Date rape stylee
The next day she went to her drawer, look up her local attorney at law
Went to the phone and filed the police report and then she took the guy’s ass to court
Well, the day he stood in front of the judge he screamed, “she lies that little slut!”
The judge knew that he was full of shit and he gave him twenty five years
And now his eyes are filled wit tears
One night in jail it was getting late
He was butt-raped by a large inmate, and he screamed
But the guards paid no attention to his cries
That’s when things got out of control
The moral of the date rape story, it does not pay to be drunk and horny
But that’s the way it had to be
They locked him up and threw away the key
Well, I can’t take pity on men of his kind
Even though he now takes it in the behind
But that’s the way it had to be
They locked him up and threw away the key
Well, I can’t take pity on men of his kind
Even though he now takes it in the behind
Date rape!
She didn’t want to, she didn’t want to, she didn’t want to, she didn’t want to
Take it!
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
http://www.missingkids.com/
CrimeLynx
CrimeLynx – a Criminal Defense Practitioner’s Guide through the Internet. Provides links in the areas of legal research, forensic & experts, investigation links and crime policy. A criminal justice center is also available.
URL: http://www.crimelynx.com/
“Folsom Prison Blues,” Johnny Cash (1955)
Since this song is more popular than “Happy Birthday,” it needs neither introduction nor explanation. Still, it’s worth remembering that the prisoner in question “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” and is now paying big time for this grotesque form of amusement. “When I hear that whistle blowin’,” he moans, “I hang my head and cry.”
Prison Pen Pals at Write A Prisoner!
https://www.writeaprisoner.com/